PREVIEW: Sabrina, #1

[Lee Stone]

straight from the archie fans message board...an archie fanboy had this to say on the matter of delays....

"I hope they do better, but my friend owns a comic shop and he says ALL publishers have delays. He said some are way worse than Archie. I'm sure Archie is trying to get a handle on it, but the fact is that the digests are still their biggest sellers and those continue to come out more or less on time. I just don't buy the hype that Archie is in that much trouble. They keep getting new creators to work for them and keep announcing new projects. If they were on the verge of bankruptcy they wouldn't be able to attract people like Fiona Staples, who doesn't really need the work apparently.

Archie Comics is a small operation relative to Marvel and DC. They don't need to sell millions of books to make money, I'm quite sure. "

Does anyone agree or disagree with this statement? cause no offense to archie fans but i find this statement to be nothing more than defending the publisher and trying to act as if the delays don't exist and that other publishers are worse with them than archie....sadly some people wear nostalgia tinted glasses that make them believe small digests are gonna keep the company in business

And that is the thing... the new projects are the ones that are suffering from delays. Not the digests or anything that they've been publishing for years.
Only the stuff that they're relying on to attract new readers.
That's why the delays are bad.

[Chrysalis_Changling]

And that is the thing... the new projects are the ones that are suffering from delays. Not the digests or anything that they've been publishing for years.
Only the stuff that they're relying on to attract new readers.
That's why the delays are bad.

but even the digests have suffered delays....so it's not like the delays are exclusive to anything...strangely though the archie action block books such as sonic boom sonic universe sonic the hedgehog and mega-man seem immune to shipping delays as they normally get put out on time

I just shrug and get ticked off whenever the fans on the archie boards accuse me of jumping the gun by thinking the dark circle project won't get off the ground because of delays....but then again these are the people who don't want archie to change one bit and they'll cling to that fictional 50's style fantasy forever

after all any criticism to them they can just bounce back with comments like this

"We'll see. You might be right, but everything Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has tried so far has worked. Until they release an Afterlife issue that bombs, I'll have faith in Archie Comics that they know what they're doing. After all there was a 6 or 7 month gap between Afterlife 6 and 7 and yet, Afterlife 7 sold out and had a second printing."

so just because afterlife sells out whenever it gets a new issue...means archie knows what they are doing....

[BookOfPureEvil]

Sure other publishers have delays but it's usually not with some of their biggest books. Afterlife with Archie is one of the most popular comics Archie has had in years and Sabrina had potential to gain a similar audience. I can partially overlook Afterlife because the artist was in some sort of accident between issues 6 and 7, but Sabrina really baffles me. Why would the writer even do the first issue if he knew he was going to be too busy to finish the second for a few months? I get that the show is going to reach more people but it really feels like the Archie horror fans are getting the short end of the stick here. Archie horror has been my favorite thing in comics since it started, but now even I'm considering dropping them from my pull list.

[Chrysalis_Changling]

Sure other publishers have delays but it's usually not with some of their biggest books. Afterlife with Archie is one of the most popular comics Archie has had in years and Sabrina had potential to gain a similar audience. I can partially overlook Afterlife because the artist was in some sort of accident between issues 6 and 7, but Sabrina really baffles me. Why would the writer even do the first issue if he knew he was going to be too busy to finish the second for a few months? I get that the show is going to reach more people but it really feels like the Archie horror fans are getting the short end of the stick here. Archie horror has been my favorite thing in comics since it started, but now even I'm considering dropping them from my pull list.

same here....i mean look at Ian Flynn he's got mega-man sonic universe sonic the hedgehog and sonic boom under his belt yet delays are never an issue for him .....so what is Sacasa's Excuse?

i guess the biggest question is still....why is archie not addressing this problem?

[BookOfPureEvil]

but even the digests have suffered delays....so it's not like the delays are exclusive to anything...strangely though the archie action block books such as sonic boom sonic universe sonic the hedgehog and mega-man seem immune to shipping delays as they normally get put out on time

I just shrug and get ticked off whenever the fans on the archie boards accuse me of jumping the gun by thinking the dark circle project won't get off the ground because of delays....but then again these are the people who don't want archie to change one bit and they'll cling to that fictional 50's style fantasy forever

after all any criticism to them they can just bounce back with comments like this

"We'll see. You might be right, but everything Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has tried so far has worked. Until they release an Afterlife issue that bombs, I'll have faith in Archie Comics that they know what they're doing. After all there was a 6 or 7 month gap between Afterlife 6 and 7 and yet, Afterlife 7 sold out and had a second printing."

so just because afterlife sells out whenever it gets a new issue...means archie knows what they are doing....

I think it's safe to have confidence in The Fox from Dark Circle. Waid doesn't seem like someone who misses deadlines, as long as the artist isn't too slow. I'm not sure about the others though. I'm also almost sure that the Archie relaunch won't get delayed, Staples isn't the fastest artist but she's only doing the first few issues and I trust Waid to finish on time.

[MajorHoy]

most publishers aren't as bad with delays as archie to be honest...i can't understand why this happens so often for them

You don't read many titles from Dynamite, do you?

[Chrysalis_Changling]

You don't read many titles from Dynamite, do you?

dynamite doesn't count as most and honestly I've learned to forget dynamite exists by this point....i won't deny dynamite's problems but it's not something that happens at most publishers nor should it

archie comics has the riverdale television series the dark circle project the mark waid reboot and the archie horror titles as well as the archie action books yet only the sonic books and mega-man seem to ship regularly

[gorosaurus]

So is this "Sabrina" the same character from Afterlife? This book mentions B&V as well as Miss Grundy being witches, while there's no evidence of that in Afterlife. Also, the time periods are different.

[Lee Stone]

So is this "Sabrina" the same character from Afterlife? This book mentions B&V as well as Miss Grundy being witches, while there's no evidence of that in Afterlife. Also, the time periods are different.

Not the same but similar.

From the editorial in the back...

"Rather than spin her out directly from the pages of Afterlife - that would've been too easy, and anyway, we had crafty (Lovecraftian) plans for her in that horror-verse - we decided to start from scratch. With Sabrina as a baby girl. And set the series not just in a different 'universe' - that would be too easy - but in a different time-period, as well, the 1960s. To evoke those movies like The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane and Rosemary's baby which captured the tone we were hoping to achieve."

[Chrysalis_Changling]

apparently robert hack also did some variants for dynamite.....http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/01/...medium=twitter

[Lee Stone]

apparently robert hack also did some variants for dynamite.....http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/01/...medium=twitter

I'm actually considering getting those digitally after they drop in price. Love the covers and design layout.

[Chrysalis_Changling]

where is the logic with archie?....no more delays

[MajorHoy]

I'm actually considering getting those digitally after they drop in price. Love the covers and design layout.

Definitely don't pay full price for The Shadow . . . man, was that a waste of money!

[Lee Stone]

Definitely don't pay full price for The Shadow . . . man, was that a waste of money!

Thanks for the warning!

[Don C]

Bleeding Cool reached out to Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa about the delays to both Sabrina and Afterlife. Aguirre-Sacasa said, "“It takes longer to produce these issues than most comic books—Robert, like Francesco, is responsible for all the art and coloring—and the last couple of months, I’ve had my focus split between writing the books and writing the pilot for ‘Riverdale,’ which can be a fairly all-consuming process. That said, ‘Riverdale’ is in great shape as it goes into Fox—fingers-crossed, everyone’s really excited about it—and now, the priority is getting ‘Sabrina’ and ‘Afterlife’ out on a regular schedule—that’s my New Year’s resolution and pledge for the fans and retailers.”

So hopefully things will get back on track. Also, with Afterlife, remember, Francesco Francavilla is also working on his creator-owned series The Black Beetle.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/01/03/world-sabrina-2/